Mission Journals of Elder S

My first German P-day, and a show!

Elder S — Wed, 19 Jun 1996 12:13:21 +0000

My first P-Day in Germany. I went shopping for our groceries and for the stuff to make fry-bread. The store didn’t have everything I need. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it somewhere else. All four of us missionaries went shopping together. After shopping we came home and rested and cleaned up.

At about 14:00 we all went in Birgit’s car to Talle and the Harz Bergtheater. There we saw “My Fair Lady.” It was auf Deutsch of course, so I didn’t understand too much. It was also expensive, 25DM. It was still a great performance, even though I didn’t understand it. I think the only thing that made it bearable was that I basically already knew the plot.

After that we, Elder C, Birgit and I, went to Familie Büssin to read the Book of Mormon. Boy! that family has too much sugar in their diet. It’s only the Mom and a boy and a girl, but boy can the tear up the house. I had fun dancing and what not, though. That was pretty much the whole day. I did finally get a letter written home. I also writ one to each of the great grandparents, and one to G&G Shepherd. I also received two letters from home.

My feet hurt, it must have been a good day

Elder S — Wed, 19 Jun 1996 03:00:19 +0000

Today went alright. I made ham and eggs for breakfast. I’ve never seen orange eggs until today. I kept on falling asleep during personal study time, so I didn’t get much done. Today it was Elders C, H, and me for the whole day. Elder H’s comp. was at a Golden Conference all day. In fact he still hasn’t returned as of 21:43. We did a bit of street contacting until 11:00 or so, and then came back so Elder C could finish the Institute lesson. I cleaned the kitchen, all the dishes, and the sink. Then tried to study, and I woke up just before Elder C asked if I would like to fix dinner, or lunch rather. I made a bunch of spaghetti and some spaghetti sauce. I thought it was alright, but I had too much and almost puked by the time I was done. Then I tried to study some more after finishing the lunch dishes, and woke up a few minutes before we left again. This time we tried to look up a few old contacts but nobody was home, so we did street contacts with no luck until Institute time.

I normally think of Institute as for college age persons, but since there is only a few in the Ward that age, anyone can come. So at Institute today was Bierget, Brüder John, Schwester Borgmann, and one other Schwester. I can’t remember her name. That went pretty well. Tons of candy! We stayed after to help Bierget with her applications to be a nanny. We were there for quite a while. On the way home we got Dönners. It’s like a fajita with lamb and sheep cheese. It was awesome tasting.

My feet hurt and stink, so it must have been a good day.

Giving out my first Book of Mormon

Elder S — Mon, 17 Jun 1996 12:04:36 +0000

Today was really good at the beginning. On our way to the Bahnhoff (train station) we got pictures with the LDS license plate, and best of all gave out a Book of Mormon. It was awesome. We just barely made it to the Zug (train) in time. We spent pretty much the whole day in Quedlingburg. We had a Mittagsessentermin (lunch appointment) with a sort of investigator couple. We ended up staying there for two hours, most of it answering the man’s questions. It was cool. I also bought some paper, so now I can write home. Then we did some door to door with no luck. On the way to visit the Nikolai’s we almost gave out two more copies of the Book of Mormon. For the whole day we gave out one and almost gave out three or four. We were almost late for the train back to Halberstadt because we talked with the Nikolai’s too long. We had then an appointment with Herr Schieweck. But he wasn’t there. That made me so disappointed. On the way home we talked with a few people, and were laughed at and made fun of by kids. That doesn’t matter though, this Church is still true. I hope tomorrow will be better. Especially on my feet. They’re killing me. Hopefully I’ll get used to it.

Missionary Work Is Enjoyable

Elder S — Sun, 16 Jun 1996 11:48:49 +0000

Since I’ve got out to the field, which is here, I’ve been doing crapier and crapier on the good things I had made into habits. Like journal writing, Book of Mormon reading, studying in the morning, and getting out of bed at 6:00. The work, missionary work, is enjoyable. It’s pretty much like I expected it to be, so there is no real shock. Quedlinburg, we went there yesterday to talk with a contact and meet the Klink family (who are members). We also stopped off at an older lady’s house and she talked with us for a whole hour. I had no clue about what she was talking about, and we both almost fell asleep. It would have been hilarious to see. An old lady talking to two young men, their heads bobbing up and down because they’re almost asleep.

When we finally got home from that we had to rush to a party for the youth in the branch. It was at one of the gardens just a few doors down. It was pretty fun. We had bratwurst and stuff. We all played spoons, I lost most of the time.

Today has gone pretty well so far. It’s only 14:30 right now. I finished my talk and had Elder C translate it for me this morning before Abendmahlsversammlung (Sacrament Meeting). It went alright. There were only eight members besides us four Elders, and we all gave talks. I played the opening and closing hymns, too.

I feel we did quite successful today, in the form of missionary work. After a long lunch with Brüder John we traveled to Talle with B. We met with Kris Zschörner. We read in das Buch Mormon and tried to answer his questions. We also made an appointment with him for next week. After a trip to Spieleberg to see where we will have the Gemeinde (Ward) picnic, Elder C and I went Tür zu Tür (door to door). We got one appointment out of about 50 people. We made it for the same time with Kris though, so we’ll have to go on splits with the other Elders. I hope they both turn out and also our appointment with Herr Schieweck tomorrow. I don’t want to be disappointed yet. But what ever way the Lord lets it go I’ll have to oblige. I pray for it to go good.

I walked my feet off

Elder S — Fri, 14 Jun 1996 11:39:44 +0000

Heute war mein erster ganzer Tag. (Today was my first full day.) Wow! I walked through half the city, it felt like. I did quite a few street contacts. I can’t wait until I can understand everything that people say. For street contacts all I do is introduce me and my companion and say we have a message or something. I can’t really understand the reply, so my comp. answers. We also did door to door. We must have tried a hundred doors. No joke! We have on Termin (appointment) for Montag (Monday) or Deinstag (Tuesday). I hope that goes well. My feet and knees hurt! We did a lot of walking.

I kind of wish K hadn’t given me a picture of herself. She’s so beautiful, every time I see her, it stabs my heart. Oh well, I won’t dwell on that anymore. Tomorrow should be a little bit easier.

I’m Finally Here!

Elder S — Thu, 13 Jun 1996 11:55:09 +0000

Last Tuesday was a pretty neat day, very busy. I got to go to Babylon with Elder R. He had to get a tooth smoothed out at the dentist. It was also busy because I was getting ready to leave. The rave at the MTC at that time was to shrink wrap your clothes. We would put a bunch of clothes in garbage bags, then use the vacuum cleaners to suck as much air out of the bags as possible. I think we concluded that it didn’t really save any room, but it sure was a lot of fun to do it.

Wednesday we all left. It seemed like a day of waiting. First we had to wait on the bus to the airport from the MTC. Then in New York we had to wait for an extra two hours or so. I had a terrible thing happen on my flight from Denver to N.Y. I left my notebook that had all of my notes from all of the speakers at the MTC and I also left my notepad for letter writing, along with a few letters. I forgot those things on the plane. I’m hoping since I have a few letters that whoever finds it will be nice enough to send it to the MTC or to one of the return addresses. If that happens, I might get it in about 2 months. I never did get the notebook and letters back. And about two years later another tragedy would strike, when I lose my scriptures and another notebook that I used throughout my mission.

Well, I missed a day in there somewhere with the flying and whatnot. I’m finally here! The travel place for the MTC wasn’t able to get tickets before Wednesday, so when we got here it was already Thursday. So we had no rest day at the Mission Home or anything. We went straight from the plane to the mission home, and after a few things we got our new companions and headed out to our new assignments. I’m in Halberstadt right now. That’s on the other side of the mission from Hamburg. My new companion and I, his name is Elder C, took the train for the rest of the day to get home. One of the members picked us up at the train station, it was about 8 at night or so. So when we came home, all I did was unpack and then go to sleep. Today is my first full day in Germany. I know I’ll do well, it will just be hard for the first couple of weeks. I hope I just jump in and get to work. Hopefully it won’t take too long to get settled in. I know as soon as I do, that everything will go fine.

A weird day

Elder S — Mon, 10 Jun 1996 11:53:41 +0000

Today was quite weird. I awoke at 2:40 am and helped the Sisters with their luggage. Then at 5 am we did the same with Elder J. We then came back and slept until 9:00 am. Needless to say we didn’t go to morning class. Elder R and I were the only ones from our district who went to afternoon class, we went to Brother J’s new district. It was a good review. Then for evening class we all went except Elder’s G, and V, but only for an hour.

I’ve been feeling really weird all day today. I think partially because the day was not a normal day, and because I’ll be leaving in one day. Also, and maybe the biggest reason, I got a letter from K. Not just a letter, but a package. It was a shoebox full of cookies and a letter. The letter said a bunch of stuff. Like she says she is my girlfriend and wants to be, and stuff like that. I don’t know what to think. We used to talk like that a few times, but just jokingly. I think it’s just the same way. Reading it, though, just made me feel all funny. I think I’ll just treat it the way I did before. Ignore it. Maybe I’ll write her to tell her what’s up, or ask her what’s up. I don’t know what to think. It would be awesome if it were so, but I don’t think it is.

Also, the Westwood Journals got sent to Pres. Barney. I’m going to talk to him tomorrow to see if I can’t get them back. Elder J W said he was just going to send them home. Hopefully I’ll get them and be able to write a little something in them. Oh well!

I should have done better at practicing the piano

Elder S — Sun, 09 Jun 1996 12:01:19 +0000

Today was an OK day. I had to give a talk in sacrament. I prepared it all today, before sacrament. It was only supposed to be five minutes, so it was really easy. It was about the Priesthood. I also played the piano in Priesthood meeting. I did alright on the first song “Count Your Blessings”. The second was going well until the second to the last line on “Sweet Hour of Prayer”. It really made me realize how much better I could have been if I would have kept up my practicing. I wish I would have kept up my piano playing. I don’t know if I’ll tell Mom that yet.

I saw Elder Russell K, he had the Westwood Journals, but he had just given them to Elder Jackson W a couple of minutes before. So hopefully I’ll get them tomorrow.

We sung “God Be With You” tonight. It kind of made me mad because we sang it in the English Speaking district. It just made me mad, because we’ve been here longer, but we sang in their room.

Three days left

Elder S — Sat, 08 Jun 1996 11:53:50 +0000

Only three more days left. Today was really awesome. We, Elders R and G, taught the first discussion to a former Sister that Brother S brought in for us. It was a tad hard. Elder G did most of the talking. I bore my testimony and almost started crying. Sister B, Dan’s old teacher, taught us this afternoon. It was just Elders R, G, R, K, and I. It was a pretty cool class.
I had a couple of prayers answered today. I was praying hard in my heart to find Elder W or someone who knew where the Westwood Journals were. I finally saw Jackson W and he said Elder K, Russell K, had them. At lunch I wasn’t even expecting to see him, but out of the corner of my eye I saw Elder K. I chased him down, but he didn’t have the books with him. I’m hoping and praying now, that I’ll be able to get them before I fly. The best ting about all this was that I’ve got another example for me how Heavenly Father answers prayers. It really strengthened my testimony on prayer.

A Totally Awesome P-Day

Elder S — Fri, 07 Jun 1996 11:39:39 +0000

Today was a totally awesome P-day. I had an awesome session at the Temple and I also did almost 100 baptisms for the dead. It was cool. While I was waiting to be baptized I read an article in the Ensign about the Holy Ghost. It helped me out a ton. I know I felt it a lot today. We had an awesome testimony meeting tonight. I was able to feel the Spirit and feel even closer to my district. I’m so excited to leave this place and get to Germany. Being here in the MTC doesn’t feel like a mission, just like going off to school. I can’t wait to get going on the “real” mission. I feel today was a good success. I was able to feel the Spirit, and have a cool day. The only thing I wish I would do more, for today and forever, is read more in the Book of Mormon. It seems that I can never find time to read. I hope there will be more time, at least to read, while in the field.